I just finished building my new computer. I installed win 98 then I tried to upgrade to win xp pro and after it got done coping the installation files and restarting it came up to this black screen that said "Could not copy cdrom.sys because it is corrupted press any key to continue” so I pressed enter and is said it couldn’t continue setup and restarts. So when it came to the screen that asked if I wanted to continue set up or cancel setup and load windows 98 I chose continue setup and it did the same thing. After it restarted and came to that screen I chose cancel set up and loaded windows 98. When I got to the desktop I tried to go to the control panel but is said it preformed an illegal operation and brought me back to the desktop. Then I tried my computer and the same thing happened. Now I don’t know what to do with my new $1000 dollar computer. Can you help?
Don’t try to upgrade from Windows 98. Start with XP and go from there. 1st rule of working with Microsoft:
Just because they say it will work doesn’t mean it will.
Actually the 1st rule of working with microsoft is:
Don’t 
Matt
Linux?
If you’re interested in trying Linux, my fiancee told me that installing Mandrake Linux is easier than installing Windows. (and Linux is free, gratis, libre, etc)
I’m sure my personal bias is showing through here, I’ve been Linux-only for several years.
But if any unicyclists here do have any Linux questions, feel free to ask me.
I agree. Boot from the XP cd and reformat the harddrive. Remember that you want to us NTFS instead of FAT32.
Re: Linux?
Free as in freedom, not as in price.
Or can you get me Fedora full-version for free?
FreeBSD is pretty free.
From all OS installers I ever seen it is the most simple.
And once you know about the package system, you will love it and even start hating .deb or .rpm’s (if you ever had to work with them).
Even making your custom kernel is sooooo easy.
Give it a try!
You can buy it here, or here, but a download goes faster and cheaper.
(yes, I’m very enthousiast, I might host an *.nl.freebsd.org host begin next year)
We could suggest he try a Mac too, but I don’t think that would be any more helpful.
Why upgrade from Win98? That would have to give you an inferior version of XP, even if it worked. Start from scratch. Buy the software if you have to (if yours is only an upgrade version).
For further help, there is tons of stuff out there, starting with Microsoft Tech Net, that’s right on the topic. Unlike this place… 
Probably less helpful since he would have to buy new hardware. At least it’s POSSIBLE to install Linux his new system. Of course if I was going to recommend a flavor it would be Gentoo. But I’m not going to do that. I’m sticking with my first post.
This was written with a Mac,
matt
Yes.
There are rumours there is a i386 code for OS-X out somewhere in the Apple labs.
Off course it wont be released. That will create big loss for Apple.
But I agree with shapr (and his financee) to give it a spin.
For example my lawer’s office runs entirely on Mandrake with OpenOffice.
And they’re not really geek-like!
Ben,
I have a Compaq Presario 2811CLT running Windows XP Home Edition. I found a copy of cdrom.sys in:
c:\Windows\System32\Drivers
This seems to be a standard Microsoft driver file. I don’t think it is specific to the machine.
If you send me an e-mail, I’ll send you back a copy of the cdrom.sys from my XP, along with my ideas for how to get it onto your machine.
Tom Daniels
tadaniels AT usa DOT net
I have been exploring LiveCD based operating systems.
I recommend that you download Knoppix 3.4 and burn it to CD rom.
You can use the CD to fix your windows system, or for daily use.
With transparent menus and many programs installed, it is impressive.
There are about 100+ variations on the LiveCD.
For example, if you want, you can get a Gentoo-based one called “Jollix 3” and avoid the relative pain of installing Gentoo.
Suse is also a great operating system, but I have been trying to move my entire LAN to CD-based OSes for many reasons.
What about buying two HDD racks and a spare HDD? One *nux, one WIN.
I use racks also.
Allows for testing, multi-OSes, and other backup solutions.
However, there are many benefits to running a CD-based OS,
rack or not.
Linux
Linux is bloody easier in the long run. No virii to worry about, no blue screens, free software upgrades, it rocks.
Mac OSX is based on Darwin, which in turn is based on one of the free BSDs (I think FreeBSD, but it could be OpenBSD), and Darwin does run on x86. The OSX gui probbaly does not (though there were rumors a couple years ago that Apple was going to abandon their processors for x86 simply due to cost.)
However, if you’ve got your heart set on XP, just do a plain install from scratch. Easiest most painless way. But upgrade to something else when you can… Geeks have a saying: “Yesterday it worke, today it doesn’t. Windows is like that.”
Re: Computer Trouble Can Anyone Help?
“evil-nick” <evil-nick@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com> writes:
> Linux is bloody easier in the long run.
I hope that’s true now. Last time I tried to run Linux (4 years ago)
it was a royal pain - every new package I wanted to run seemed to
require different (and incompatible) versions of other packages. The
new window managers/desktops weren’t ready for prime time. Samba would not
configure properly in a Windows server environment.
Just so you know I’n no babe in the woods, I’ve used BSD, FreeBsd,
NetBSD, Irix, Mach (2.5 & 3.0), AIX, SunOS, Solaris, HPUX, … That
includes stuff like writing network protocol stacks and kernel
patches. And I’m writing this using a proper newsreader, GNUS (in
Emacs).
> Mac OSX is based on Darwin, which in turn is based on one of the free
> BSDs (I think FreeBSD, but it could be OpenBSD)
Kind of. OSX is, at its core, Darwin. Darwin is based on OPENSTEP,
which included the Mach kernel, a BSD server, and a GUI (now Cocoa).
Maybe I’m being picky (and maybe not surprisingly so since I come from
CMU where Mach was developed), but I don’t think of an operating
system using a completely different kernel should be though of as
primarily BSD based.
Ken
If you want a linux distro that ‘just works’ for installation and upgrades, I’d suggest Debian.
I’ve been using Debian’s unstable flavor for several years with great results. (Details on request)
ObUni: I still haven’t found a cycle computer that runs Debian 
I’d also be using Gnus to read this newsgroup if telia.se’s nntp server would get posts from the unicyclist.com forums in less than a week.
This week I mistake a server to be IDE in stead of SCUSI. So I screw up an kernelupgrade.
But without any tools like rescue-disks I just repaired it using the bootloader to boot kernel.old, make another backup, and make the correct kernel.
I thought OS-X was a spin off of FreeBSD 3.3.
There always use to be FreeBSD copyright notices everywhere.
Darwin and Mach
I sit corrected.
Maybe I just think Linux is easier now 'cause I’ve fiddled with it for so long… But it’s been over a year now since I’ve used Windows for anything other than games for over a year now… No virii, no spyware, it’s all good 
Re: Computer Trouble Can Anyone Help?
“leo” <leo@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com> writes:
> I thought OS-X was a spin off of FreeBSD 3.3.
> There always use to be FreeBSD copyright notices everywhere.
I’ll say it again. OSX is derived from OpenSTEP, which includes a
Mach kernel with a BSD server (as well as what is now the Cocoa GUI).
The BSD server uses actual BSD code.
When I used Mach at CMU, the BSD server was Berkeley BSD based. At
some point the code was sanitized for distributuion to non AT&T
licensed sites, thus the switch FreeBSD. My question is: Does it make
sense to call OSX a “FreeBSD spinoff”, when its roots predate the
royalty free distribution of BSD? To me the answer is no. If all you
care about is the behavior of the unix server then you might answer
yes.
Ken
FreeBSD
FreeBSD, OSX, it’s all better then Micro$oft (I’m not biased, honest!)
Amen Brother! Escape the monopoly!